Week's events spread diversity

IEW.jpg:French club president junior Kim Kilmartin and freshman Sarah Stockdell make crÃªpes for customers in Harter Union Tuesday. The club sold crÃªpes as a fund-raiser during International Education Week.:

As International Education Week comes to a close, Baker University students and faculty have expressed positive feelings toward the activities held.

The week was complete with a series of trivia questions, an international movie series, foreign language tables in the cafeteria during lunch, a global awareness fair and an international flag contest. In addition, a "Brewsday" Tuesday event was held in Collins Library to give students a chance to meet international, heritage and study abroad students.

As part of the week's festivities, the French Club sold crÃÂªpes Monday and Tuesday. Ashley Sims, vice president of the French Club, said she appreciates Baker's International Education Week.

"I think the idea is fantastic," Sims said. "It's definitely important for us to be aware of the different cultures on campus, and this as the 'Year of Study Abroad,' it gives students a good opportunity to become aware of the different options as far as study abroad."

Sims said she plans to study abroad at Harlaxton College in the spring semester and is looking forward to being part of a different culture.

"I'm looking forward to meeting people," she said.

Sims said the French Club is a fairly new club and is still trying to figure out what all it can do.

"I would like the French Club to do more outside the club to make students aware of how important foreign language is."

Junior Steve Lovelady said the French Club's crepes were what originally drew him to the global awareness fair.

"What really attracted me was the crÃÂªpe sale," Lovelady said. "I know (Amity Scholars) Karen (Yanez) and Claudia (Schirmer), and they're really cool, and this week has a lot to do with them.

"You can talk about it and teach it, but when you have the real-world people there, it adds to the experience."

Lovelady said he thought International Education Week was an important week at Baker.

"This is a liberal arts school, and they encourage students to be flexible with their learning," Lovelady said. "They require that we take classes from all these disciplines, and International Education Week is one more way to add to the goal of this university in keeping us well-rounded and making sure we know a little bit about everything."

Minister to the University Ira DeSpain said another event planned for International Education Week was an interfaith dialogue between DeSpain and a Jewish professor, which occurred at Thursday's chapel service.

"It's not intended to be a debate," DeSpain said. "The purpose is to try to find areas of common faith and beliefs."

Another part of International Education Week was a People-to-People sale scheduled to run Wednesday through Friday. Profits from the sale, which featured items made by people around the world, benefit the Milan-Harris Award for Promoting Diversity.